Lead Paint Abatement Push in NYC Child Care Centers Raises the Question: When Does Utica Get the Same Urgency?

New York City is spending $10.2 million to make every NYCHA child care center lead-free this fall. In the Mohawk Valley, where lead poisoning rates rank among the worst in the state, families are still waiting for that same sense of emergency.

Lead paint abatement just became a $10.2 million priority for New York City, and the timing could not be more pointed for readers in Utica and Rome. On July 24, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt announced that the city will permanently and completely remove lead-based paint from 63 additional child care centers on NYCHA campuses this fall. The investment builds on a program that has already made more than 20,000 NYCHA apartments lead-free, and city officials are calling it the most aggressive public housing lead inspection and abatement program in the country.

That claim deserves scrutiny here in the Mohawk Valley. Utica has some of the highest childhood lead poisoning rates in New York state, and local advocates have spent years asking the same questions New Yorkers just got answered: how fast will hazards be removed, and who is watching to make sure it happens?

What New York City Just Announced

The $10.2 million investment covers complete abatement of 63 child care centers located on NYCHA properties across the five boroughs. NYCHA has already tested all 75 child care centers on its campuses for lead-based paint hazards. Six centers that tested positive have already been abated, and the rest are under regular inspection, with any deteriorating paint stabilized immediately.

This child care center push is part of a much larger effort. NYCHA has tested 97 percent of its apartments for lead and is abating between 300 and 400 units a month. More than 20,000 apartments have been made permanently lead-free so far. The authority reported that elevated blood lead level cases among children living in NYCHA housing dropped from 10 in early 2024 and 8 in early 2025 to just two during the same three-month window in 2026.

“Every child care center in the city needs to be safe, high-quality and hazard-free,” Mayor Mamdani said in the announcement. “We will not stop until our buildings are safe and our children can learn and grow in peace.”

The child care center funding is part of a $195 million capital investment planned for fiscal year 2027 to test and abate lead across NYCHA buildings citywide, itself a slice of a $5.6 billion capital commitment to public housing, the largest in the authority’s recent history. The work stems from a 2019 agreement between NYCHA and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that requires the authority to test and remediate lead hazards in both apartments and common spaces, under the watch of a federal monitor.

Why Lead Paint Abatement Matters in the Mohawk Valley

Lead paint abatement is not an abstract policy debate in Utica. It is a public health emergency that has been documented for years. According to the state Department of Health, blood lead levels among Utica children have been reported at roughly four times the state average, and county data shows more than 14 percent of Oneida County children are never tested at all.

The problem is rooted in the region’s housing stock. Homes and buildings built before 1980, common throughout Utica, Rome and New Hartford, are the leading source of lead exposure through peeling paint and lead dust. That history led New York state to name both Utica and Rome among just 25 “communities of concern” statewide, the same designation that triggered the state’s new Lead Rental Registry law.

Under that registry, which took effect November 3, 2025, landlords of two or more unit rental properties built before 1980 in the 13501, 13502 and 13440 ZIP codes must register with the state and certify their properties lead-free every three years starting in 2026. The Oneida County Health Department is enforcing the law locally, contracting with the Mohawk Valley Community Action Agency to conduct lead wipe testing.

Betty-Joan Beaudry, who chairs the Environmental and Climate Justice Committee of the Utica-Oneida County NAACP chapter, pressed the Utica Common Council earlier this year for more transparency as the registry rolled out. “With Utica lead levels among the highest in New York state, residents deserve transparency,” Beaudry told the council. “This is an investment in the economic future of our region through improved health outcomes.”

That is essentially the same argument New York City officials made this week to justify a $10.2 million check. The difference is scale and speed. NYCHA’s effort covers public housing units directly owned and operated by the city. In Utica, lead remediation depends on a patchwork of federal grants, county health inspections and voluntary landlord compliance, a slower and more fragmented system for a community that has carried the state’s worst lead numbers for close to two decades.

The Mohawk Valley’s Own Lead Paint Abatement Track Record

Utica is not starting from zero. The Lead-Free Mohawk Valley Coalition has worked since 2015, when it launched with an initial $1 million investment, to reduce lead hazards across Oneida County. The Lead Safe Utica program, run through the HomeOwnershipCenter, has used federal Department of Housing and Urban Development grants, including a $3.97 million award secured by Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand in 2023, to fund inspections and remediation in privately owned housing built before 1978.

The Utica Housing Authority has also received targeted federal support, including $1 million from HUD’s Lead-Based Paint Capital Fund to conduct risk assessments and abatement work in public housing units. “Lead poisoning is an irreversible, preventable tragedy that robs too many families and specifically children of their future, especially here in Utica,” Schumer said when that funding was announced.

The Oneida County Health Department’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Primary Prevention Program has worked since 2007 in targeted census tracts within the 13501 and 13502 ZIP codes, prioritizing homes with young children, pregnant women and newly arrived refugee families. Despite that long-running work, Oneida County was ranked first in the state for lead poisoning incidence when the Lead-Free Mohawk Valley Coalition began, a ranking local officials have worked to improve but have not fully escaped.

What Families Can Do Right Now

Lead exposure has no safe threshold, and the damage it causes to a child’s brain development is permanent. But exposure is preventable, and Mohawk Valley families have real resources available today:

• Get children tested. New York state law requires blood lead testing at ages 1 and 2. Local providers including MVHS Sister Rose Vincent Family Medicine Center, Mosaic Health Utica and Upstate Family Health Center all offer testing.
• Check your housing. Homes built before 1978 in Utica may qualify for free inspection and remediation through Lead Safe Utica, reachable through the UNHS HomeOwnershipCenter at 315-724-4197.
• Know your landlord’s obligations. Rental properties with two or more units built before 1980 in Utica and Rome must now be registered with the state under the Lead Rental Registry law.
• Report hazards. Peeling, chipping or damaged paint should be reported to the Oneida County Health Department Lead Program at 315-798-5064.

The Bigger Picture and a Call to Action

New York City’s $10.2 million lead paint abatement commitment shows what is possible when a government treats childhood lead exposure as the emergency it actually is. Utica has spent nearly two decades fighting the same fight with a fraction of the resources and a far larger burden, given that the city’s lead poisoning rates have outpaced the state average for years. Mohawk Valley residents deserve to know whether state and local leaders will match New York City’s urgency with comparable funding and comparable deadlines.

Holding elected officials accountable starts with showing up. Oneida County residents can track lead legislation, contact their representatives and register to vote through the New York State Board of Elections or vote.gov. Local budget hearings and Common Council meetings are also open to the public and are where decisions about lead funding priorities get made. If New York City can find $10.2 million for its kids this fall, Mohawk Valley families have every right to ask when Utica’s children get the same investment.

For more information on lead testing and exposure prevention, visit the New York State Department of Health lead poisoning prevention page.